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Ready for fresh, crisp, juicy fall Ohio apples? Hope so - this year will be a bumper crop in Northeast Ohio. There will be more than 8 lbs. of apples available for each Ohioan, so plan to be very healthy and munch many apples!

There are so many apples, the branches are bending and breaking. Check out the Plain Dealer story above!

Today we are heading out to pick apples or enjoy some really splendid farm experiences, and I thought I would share a few great places to pick apples locally so you can have some fun too!

Check out www.pickyourown.org for local farm markets near YOU! Most of my info came from their great website!

Please share your local apple farm favs - October is the month!!

Beckwith Orchards, Cider Mill and Gift Shop

1617 Lake Rockwell Road
Kent, OH 44240
Portage County
Phone: (330) 673-6433 or (330) 673-7764
Open: Daily, 9:00 am - 5:00pm, 10-5 EDT
Description: Beckwith Orchards has been a family owned and operated farm in Portage County, Ohio for 6 generations. Fruit has been grown and sold at its current location for over 125 years. Our Country Store is stocked full of home accents and gourmet food items. While visiting, stop in our bakery for fresh home baked pies and other delicious treats. No visit is complete for the little ones without a chance to run through our 2 1/2 acre corn maze. It is designed with little ones in mind, but fun for all. We offer prescheduled school and group tours, gift baskets and gift packed apples shipped to your specified destination within the continental United States.
Apples: Beckwith Big Red, Ginger Gold, Gala, Mollies Delicious, Elstar, Honeycrisp, McIntosh, Macoun, Red Delicious, Cortland, Empire, Jonathan, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Melrose, Swiss Gourmet, Ida Red, Mutsu/Crispin, Winesap, Red Rome, Winter Banana, Fuji, Braeburn, Granny Smith
Other Fruit: Peaches, pears, cider
Website: www.beckwithorchards.com

www.pattersonfarm.com Chesterland

www.baumanorchards.com Rittman

www.mapleside.com Brunswick

Dunlap's Orchard - apples, pears, plums
5550 South Arlington Road, Clinton, OH 44216. Phone: 330-896-8650. Open: September-November; Monday to Saturday 9 am to 7 p.m. and Sunday 10 am to 7 p.m. (No website)

Monroe's Orchard and Farm Market, LLC (formerly Pioneer Trail Orchard) - Strawberries, Raspberries, Apples, Pumpkins.
6313 Pioneer Trail, Hiram, OH, 44234-9744. Phone: 330-569-7464. Open: 7 days a week. Credit cards accepted, and checks too. There's a gift shop on site as well as pre-picked fruit. They offer hay-rides in the fall.

Richardson Farms - apples and pumpkins, Hayrides
6984 Lafayette Road, Medina, OH 44256. Phone: 330-722-4029. Fax: 330-723-7888. Open: April-November, Monday to Saturday 9 am to 8 p.m. and Sunday 10 am to 8 p.m. Hayrides, farm tours, picnic pavilions, pick-your-own.

Pick"n"Save Orchard - Apples, blueberries, cherries, pears, peaches, pumpkins, raspberries, pumpkin patch-pick in the field, and prepicked produce, picnic area, horse-drawn hay rides, tractor-pulled hay rides
1222 Ledge Road, Medina, OH 44256. Phone: 330 239-1480. Email us from the website. Directions: Call for directions. Click here for a map to our farm. Crops are usually available in July, August, September, October, November. Open: 10:00am to 6:00pm daily from August 10th to November 15th. Payment: Cash, Check. We also make our own Maple Syrup here in our woods, Honey from our Bee's and my wife makes all jams and apple butter. We make apple cider during September and October.

Hillside Orchard & Farm Market - blueberry, apples and pumpkins, Christmas Trees
2397 Center Road, Hinckley, OH 44233-0281. Phone: 330-225-4748. Open: April-December, Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Wednesday 10 am to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Annual harvest fun festival second weekend in October, pick-your-own blueberry picking July 15-August 31, pick-your-own apples and pumpkins, school tours through mid-September.
Christmas Trees: canaan fir, fraser fir, scotch pine, services: pre-cut, - apples, asparagus, beans, beets, blackberries, blueberries, broccoli, cantaloupe, cauliflower, cherries, cucumbers, grapes, onions, peaches, pears, peppers, plums, potatoes, pumpkins, red raspberries, rhubarb, squash, strawberries, sweet corn, tomatoes, zucchini, Plants: annuals, bedding plants, perennials, Other: baked goods, cider, eggs, honey, jams and jellies, maple syrup.

Geig's Orchard - apples and pumpkins
8468 Wooster Pike, Seville, OH 44273. Phone: 330-769-3276. Email: bgeig@neo.rr.com. Open: July-November, Monday to Saturday 9 am to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon-6 p.m. Weekends in October pick-your-own apples and pumpkins.

The Apple Patch - apples, Maple Syrup from trees on the farm, picnic area
662 Rural Dr., Eastlake, OH 44095. Phone: 440-946-1908. Directions: Click here for a map and directions. Crops are usually available in September, October. Open: Monday to Friday, 5:30 pm to dusk and Saturday and Sunday, 10 am till dusk. Click here for current open hours, days and dates. Apples: We start picking the weekend after Labor Day through October. We minimize use of pesticides and other chemicals. Payment: Cash, only.

Sunrise Farm Market - apples, strawberries, pumpkins, corn stock maze, self-guided tour of 1895 steam powered cider mill
P.O. Box 204, 13115 Kinsman Road, Burton, OH 440210204. Phone: 440-834-1298. Fax: 440-834-0902. Open: all year, Sunday 10 am to 5 p.m. and Monday to Saturday 9 am to 6 p.m. Christmas Trees: blue spruce, douglas fir, fraser fir, scotch pine, white pine. pre-cut, tree baling.

$22,500 for a new home is available to you if you are a first time buyer or have not owned a home in 3 years. Read on...

In Summit County, there is a program for first time buyers which matches your down payment, 3 to 1. The max matching funds offered is $14,999 - so you can come to the table with up to $5,000 and get a 40 year loan, interest free! This money is only offered for a limited time until it runs out. Also, this only applies to homes in Summit County but not Akron, Barberton or Cuyahoga Falls. There are different programs for those cities.

Add to that the $7,500 tax credit offered until June 2009, and you are looking at...

the potential of having of having $22,500 toward a home!!!

Give me a call to discuss this asap. When the Summit County money is gone, it is gone.

Prices are at bottom, so don't miss out.

Enjoyed the gorgeous day, enjoyed the people, ENJOYED THE CARS!!

The first annual Munroe Falls Car Show was complete success! Munroe Falls Friends of the Park raised $700 thanks to the generosity of Crooked River Grill's owners Dave and Sue and the food concession, as well as those who purchased 50/50 raffle tickets. Sponsors for the prizes included: Kirbie's Meats in Stow; PatriotTek Computer and Network Solutions, Munroe Falls and others.

The Car Show was noon to 4 on Sept. 20 on city property between Guise Park and City Hall, 42 Munroe Falls Ave. The show was sponsored by Friends of the Munroe Falls Park Board and the Munroe Falls Park Board.

The event featured a 50/50 drawing, door prizes, 1950s music from DJ Aloha Phil, and food from Crooked River Grill. The Jaycees donated a membership to Lifecenter Plus in Hudson as a raffle prize.

Door prizes were awarded, including a computer tune-up (value $195) from PatriotTek Computer and Network Services of Munroe Falls and a gift certificate from Kirbie's Family Meats in Stow.

Four $25 gas cards were given to randomly selected registrants.

This was an open class event, not limited to one type of car, and was FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Money to host the event was part of a grant the Park Board received from Summit Regional Arts and Cultural District Board.

We have been "Iked!" 900,000 people without power, down from 2.6 million. Yikes - Ike was a low-key monster storm after all!

About 4,000 still in the Akron area - I can hardly believe it!!

http://www.myfoxcleveland.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7461401&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.1.1

David Childress mentioned on Facebook yesterday that he was without power still yesterday...are you back online yet David???

And our governor, Ted Strickland, has asked to have a state of emergency declared, and trying to obtain 7 million dollars in emergency relief. Shelters are set up by the Red Cross in Stark County and other areas.

Here at my house, the sun is shining, the sky is blue and I'm online. Thank God for daily blessings!

Hurricane Ike hit Ohio yesterday - cracking trees, smashing cars with falling trees, pushing over lampposts...

Lawns are littered with leaves and branches, after hours of bending and blowing in the wind. The sky was snowing leaves for hours Sunday night.

In our neighborhood, our decorative pear trees were victims of Ike's power - we lost at least four 20 year old trees.

Streetlights, power and cable were out for hours, closing stores and causing drivers great frustration.

In the Cleveland area, one woman was trapped in her car for hours with a broken neck:

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/17476841/detail.html

Glad that's over - praying for the people who REALLY dealt with Ike and the other storms this season!

UPDATE: As of this morning (9/17) 100,000 people were without power here!!! We had agents looking for generators and going to Starbucks to work with their wifi!!